Stewart was a communication system operator who was posted to Burnham Military Camp in 2009.
A commanding officer described him as a trusted intelligence professional whose skills were said to be “world class” and saved lives on the battlefield.
He was deployed to Afghanistan three times before leaving the troop in 2013.
The nature of his work was classified but events at the time of his first tour were the subject of the Operation Burnham Inquiry into a 2010 raid that NZ special air service forces planned and gave sign-off for a US Apache helicopter to fire on people below.
KEVIN STENT/Stuff